Electric door opening and closing device



May 17, 1932. c. E ALLEN ELECTRIC DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE Filed Jan. 29, 1931 Patented May 17, 1932 UNITED STATES CHARLES E. ALLEN, OF ARVADA, GOLORAIDO ELECTRIC DOOR OPENING AND CLOSING DEVICE Application filed January-29, 1931. Serial No. 512,061;

This invention relates to improvements in devices for opening and closing garage doors and has reference more particularly to a mechanism that is operated by means of an electric motor and which is so constructed that it will simultaneously open and close the two sections ofa double door. a

In garages of all types, both public garages where a large number of cars are stored, in and private garages, a device for automatically opening and closing the doors is a great convenience, and especially is this true in public garages and places where the doors must be opened and closed frequently and for this purpose different means have been invented, some of which are electrically operated, while others are manually operated.

It is the object of this invention to produce a simple and substantial device that can 270 be readily applied to any: double garage doors and which can be controlled by means of a switch located at a convenient point for the purpose of opening or closing the doors.

The above and other objects that may become apparent as this description proceeds are attained by means of a construction and an arrangement of parts that will now be described in detail, and for this purpose reference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which the preferred embodiment of the invention has been illustrated, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a bottom plan view. of the device showing the same connected with a double door, and shows the doors in closed position by full lines, and in openposition by dotted lines' Fig. 2 is a section taken on line 2-,2, Fig. 1 Fig. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3,

Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a wiring diagram showing the control switches;

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View of the bevel gear showing the cams for operating a l1m1t stop switch; and

Fig. 6 is a diagram showing the device connected to doors that open inwardly.

In the drawings reference numerals '1 indicate the wall of the garage or building and numerals 2 designate the sides of the door frame. Secured to each of the side members 2 is a door 3. These doors are supported on hinges 4: and in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, are so mountedthat they can move from the full line to the dotted line positions. For the purpose of opening and closing the doors, the following mechanism has been provided. A bracket 5 which may be made of steel or cast iron has one end secured to the transverse frame member 6 at the top of the doors and extends inwardly intothe garage in themanner shown in Fig. 2. The outer end of the bracket is provided with a bearing 7 in which is journalled a shaft 8. Secured to the lower end of the shaft is a crank arm 9 having acrank pin 10. Secured to the upper end of the shaft is a bevel gear 11. A motor 12 is secured to the upper surface of the bracket by means of bolts 13 andthe motor shaft is provided with a bevel pinion 14: that meshes with the bevel gear in the manner shown in Fig. 2. A single pole double throw switch 15 is secured to the bracket directly beneath the bevel gear 11 and has a handle 16 that projects upwardly into near proximity to the bottom of the bevel gear. The bevel gear is provided on its under surface with two cams 17 and 18. These cams are located at different distances from the center and are inclined in opposite directions in the manner shown in Fig. 5.

.When the bevel gear turns in thedirection of the arrow, Fig. 5, the cams will alternately engage the handle 16 and throw the switch from one position to the other. The operation of the switches will be explained in greater detail hereafter.

. Secured to the underside of the bracket are two Z-bars 19 which are arranged in parallel relation and extend in the direction of the length of the bracket. The lower flanges of the bars extend towards each other as shown in Fig. 3 and form a guide in which a crosshead 20 is slidably supported. Extending downwardly from the crosshead is a pin 21. Secured to the bracket and. extending downwardly therefrom are two pivots 22, one of which is located on each side of the guide. Pivotally connected with each. of the pivots 22 is'an arm or lever 23. The point 9 rotates, the crosshead will be reciprocated in the guide. lVhen the parts are in the position shown by full lines in Fig. 1,

the doors which are connected with the outer ends of the arms 23 by means of links 26 are in closed position. When the doors are in closed position pin 21 is nearer to the doors than pins 27 and therefore if a force isv applied to the doors tending to move them to open position, this force will be resisted by the links 24, which act as an overset toggle and therefore serve as a lock for positively holding the doors in closed position. lVhen the parts move from the full line towards the dotted line position in Fig. 1, the doors are moved to open position in a manner quite apparent. Owing to the action of the toggles and to the resistance offered by the moving parts, the doors will be held in open position with sufficientforce to resist being moved to closed position by the action of the wind.

If the doors are to move inwardly instead of outwardly when they open, they can be provided with brackets 28 to which the links 26 are connected in the manner shown in Fig. 6 and when the parts are connected in this way the same mechanism can be usedfor opening the doors towards the interior of the building. When the parts are connected as shown in Fig. 6, the different parts of the device must be located above the doors, so that the latter can swing freely without coming in contact with any portions of the op' erating means.

In Fig. at a wiring diagram has been shown and the source of current has been designated by a battery 29 which is merely illustrative as the lighting circuit can be used as the source of electric current for operating the mechanism. One pole of the current supply is connected with one terminal of the motor by means of a wire 30 and the other terminal of the motor is connected to the pivot point of the switch blade 82 by means of a wire 31. The control switch 33 is located at some convenient point and is preferably a single pole double throw switch of the type used for the limit switch and the corresponding contacts of the two switches are connected by means of conductors 34: and 35. A conductor 36 extends from the pivot point of switch arm 32 to the other pole of the current supply. When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4, the circuit will be open and the motor will be standing still. If switch 33 is moved so that the switch arm comes in electric contact with the conductor 34, a circuit is established through the motor and the latter will therefore run until switch 15 is thrown in the opposite direction by the action of one of the cams. The cams are so adjusted and related to the switch handle 16 that they will operate switch 15 when the doors are in open position and also when the doors are in closed position, and therefore whenever switch 33 is operated, the mechanism will move the doorseither to open or close position as the case may bev and will automatically disconnect the motor at the proper time.

The parts above described may be made of any suitable size and the mechanism is therefore adapted for small garages, or for large ones. In actual practice, however, the same size mechanism can be used for all garages, due to the fact that the doors are substantially the same size, regardless of the size of the building, but if exceptionally large doors are to be operated, the device can be increased in strength to make it suitable for the work that it is to perform.

From the above description it will be apparent that I have produced asimple mechanism that is especially well adapted for the purpose for which it is intended and which can be assembled at the factory and easily installed as it requires no special construc tion of the doors or door frames and can therefore be readily installed on any garage.

Although the device is constructed for use with double doors, it can also be used for operating a single door, as well as. for operating any other part that is to be moved alternately in opposite directions.

Attention is called to the fact that the device described and claimed is a unitary assembly that can be attached to the door frame and to the electric lighting circuit and which is connected to the doors by links or rods 26. The fact that no pivots are fastened to the door frame or building apart from those that are carried by the main frame makes it easy for any one toinstall the device and it is therefore well adapted to be sold directly to users who put it in place.

Having described the invention what is claimed asv new is:

1. A device for simultaneously opening and closing the two halves of a double door comprising an elongated bracket adapted to be supported atone end from the wall directly above the door, the other end being'free and provided with a bearing in which a shaft is journalled, a crank arm secured to the lower end of the shaft, a guide secured to the underside of the bracket and extending in the direction of the length thereof, a crosshead slidably connected with the guide, a connecting rod having one end connected with the crank arm and the other end with the crosshead, two pivots secured to the underside of the bracket, one on each side of the guide, a lever connected to each pivot at a polnt between its ends, a link extending from one end of each lever to the crosshead and means for turning the shaft whereby the crosshead will be reciprocated on the guide and the levers oscillated about their stationary pivots.

2. A device for simultaneously opening and closing the two halves of a double door comprising, an elongated bracket adapted to be supported at one end from the wall directly above the door, the other end being free and provided with a bearing, a shaft journaled in the bearing, a crank arm secured to the lower end of the shaft, a guide secured to the underside of the bracket and extending in the direction of the length thereof, a crosshead slidably connected with the guide, a connecting rod having oneend connected with the crank arm and the other end with the crosshead, two pivots secured to the underside of the bracket, one on each side of the guide, a lever connected to each pivot at a point intermediate its ends, a link extending from one end of each lever to the crosshead, means for turning the shaft whereby a the crosshead will be reciprocated on the guide and the levers oscillated about their pivots, and means for automatically stopping the shaft from rotating when the crosshead has reached predetermined points in its travel.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CHARLES E. ALLEN. 

